MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Legal team to seek acquittal of French rugby players in rape scandal

Jégou and Araudou spent many days in jail for the feeble statements of a woman, which experts now say showed numerous inconsistencies

The legal team representing French international rugby players Oscar Jégou and Hugo Araudou after they were charged with rape in the Argentine province of Mendoza announced Wednesday that they would be mooting for their clients' acquittal after a psychological report on the woman who claimed to have been the victim was found to be full of “inconsistencies and contradictions.”

According to the experts, she tends to adapt information to her own narrative and her declarations showed significant loopholes, due to which the counselors would seek to have the case dismissed.

The alleged crime was allegedly committed in early July, after which the two players were first jailed in a Mendoza penitentiary before being granted house arrest. Eventually, they were allowed to leave the country after missing several France international engagements but the case against them is still open.

The tests carried out on the plaintiff by local experts concluded that her recount of the facts was not credible. She “presents a linear and structured story as opposed to a spontaneous and fluid one, rigid in terms of the chronology of the facts and which is deficient in terms of its logical construction, whose details are not articulated coherently as a whole,” the mental health professionals argued. They also found “elements compatible with exaggeration and accommodation of the information provided, detecting contradictory and inconsistent content.”

“We detected a tendency to accommodate the information she provides by emphasizing those aspects that may favor her version of the facts and being avoidant about those data that may compromise her and that clearly go in a direction contrary to her failed attempts to establish herself in the place of the victim,” the report highlighted.

The study also determined that in the case of the 39-year-old woman “a tendency to show a positive self-image was observed, appealing to the exercise of her constant maternal role as a way of presenting a valued aspect of herself, trying to move the interviewers.” However, this strategy was used with “the intention of accommodating her story and hiding information,” the report also pointed out.

Regarding the rape allegations, the mental health specialists concluded that “Clearly, the story is not free or spontaneous: it is tinged with obvious external influences, mainly from her friend”, to whom she sent audios with details of the alleged sexual encounter. However, the presence of more than ten bruises on the complainant's body is explained by a previous medical diagnosis she had, Von Willebrand's syndrome, which affects blood clotting and may explain the bruises.

In short, the alleged victim's account is riddled with “inconsistencies and contradictions” which “globally configures a deficient narrative in terms of the criteria of credibility and validity.”

“We now have the latest evidence that shows that the complainant feigns unreal situations. What is even worse is that she manipulates the information according to the Forensic Medical Corps. The only thing left is the dismissal of my defendants to show society that this was an organized lie that could have ended in a brutal injustice of 20 years in prison,” lawyer Rafael Cúneo Libarona representing the defendants stressed.